What is Discovery?
The basics of the process and the resources that come with it.
Discovery is a facilitated process from Tearfund designed to help your church discover its community and become a transforming influence within it. Writted by skilled and experienced practitioners Discovery will help your church build on your strengths and aspirations and put your plans into action.
Want to know what impact the process has had on others? Watch a film showing the experience of two churches
Discovery will help your church to:
- make a difference in your community, transforming lives and offering purpose and hope
- reflect on what the Bible says about meeting the needs of the poorest and most vulnerable people
- build confidence as a team, discover new skills and share experiences.
Discovery resource pack
Discovery offers a complete toolkit for engaging, interactive
sessions in six stages. Everything you need to run each session is
included in the pack, including a CD-ROM, facilitator's guide and
postcard toolkits. Plus:
-
biblical reflection on reaching out to vulnerable people
- inspirational activities to discover the potential of your community
- tools to help you discover and understand your community's needs
- ideas to help your group organise and run a project
- advice on how to plan an event or programme.
Facilitator training
Tearfund suggests sending at least two people on a two-day training
course. Once trained, they will then be fully equipped to run the
six-stage Discovery sessions. A Discovery co-ordinator from Tearfund
can provide ongoing support and advice..
The cost of training is £90 for the first delegate and £50 for each
additional delegate. Training is over two days and includes a Discovery
pack, lunch and refreshments.
Once your church group has completed the training they will be
confident and skilled to put what they've learnt into action. The pack
is bursting with ideas on how to run projects and events inspired by
the course.
Want to know more about Discovery training?
To find out about a training session near you please email discovery@tearfund.org or phone 0845 521 0021.
"When the Parish Church of The Holy Trinity St Andrews decided to re-engage with our community in order to become more missional, our eye was caught by Tearfund's 'Church Community and Change' process. By the time we got involved, the process was stream-lined and had a new name: Discovery.
Steering a church through 6 crucial stages, from dreaming dreams to grappling with statistics to convening focus groups, the beauty of Discovery is that it can operate as a cycle. This means that all information and initiatives are revisited on a regular basis.
Each cycle steers one towards areas of opportunity/ need, with the idea being to identify a faith community's significant giftings and where they might most effectively be deployed. Prepare to be surprised; we were!
The fact that Tearfund has a dedicated Discovery consultant confirms its commitment to local congregations. Involvement in the process can only help develop that beguiling vision of a network of 100,000 local churches working together to raise 50 million people out of spiritual and material poverty!"